Investigators are frustrated by tight-lipped witnesses to a shooting that injured two innocent bystanders Monday night.

A four-year-old girl and 26-year-old man were injured by gunfire at Forrester Gardens Apartments when a man opened fire on a crowd of people, Tuscaloosa County Metro Homicide Unit assistant commander Lt. Kip Hart said.

“There was a crowd of up to 50 people, and we have run into a situation where a lot of them ‘didn’t see anything’,” Hart said Tuesday morning. “I have a hard time believing that. People need to come forward because sooner or later, it could be their child who is shot.”

Enough witnesses did come forward to identify Germerio Bobo, 19, as the suspect. All law enforcement agencies in the area were searching for him Tuesday morning, Hart said, and consider him to be armed and dangerous.

A Tuscaloosa Police officer responding to an unrelated call in the complex off James I. Harrison Jr. Parkway heard gunshots at 7:50 p.m. and called for backup. Police learned that Bobo and another man had argued about a woman about two hours prior, and that the argument had resumed in the complex parking lot.

The gunman fired into the crowd of people, Hart said, striking the girl and her cousin. She was treated for a gunshot wound to her leg and released from DCH Regional Medical Center late Monday. He remained hospitalized at UAB Hospital in Birmingham on Tuesday, where he was being treated for a wound to his neck. His injury is serious, Hart said, but he is expected to survive.

Hart urged people with information about the disagreement between the two men or Bobo’s whereabouts to come forward. Officers have warrants to charge him with first-degree assault, second-degree assault and reckless endangerment.
“I think it’s important that people realize we’re talking about kids here,” he said. “This is the fourth child in the last year who has been a victim of gunfire over other people’s nonsense.”

On Aug. 1, 2013, Broddrick Hardy, 2-years-old at the time, was injured when someone fired shots at Forrester Gardens during an argument.

Last July, Tamerra Harper, 4, was struck in the head during a drive-by shooting of her grandmother’s home. Earlier this summer, a nine-year-old boy was shot at Hay Court. All of the children recovered from the injuries.

Investigators believe that Bobo is still in the area. Anyone with information is asked to call Tuscaloosa Police at 205-349-2121 or Tuscaloosa County CrimeStoppers at 205-752-STOP (7867).